Little Girl
by hufflepuffamity
Summary: What had started out as a routine hunt turned out to be so much more. Jace's story of how he met Clary, from the morning before to the evening after.


**I feel like this idea is probably overused but I wanted to put my own spin on it, not to mention the fact that I also wanted to write about the before and after.**

 **And thanks to Mrs. Jace Wayland-Herondale for beta-ing as always. (((:**

* * *

Jace awoke abruptly, drenched in sweat and shaking.

 _Not again,_ he thought to himself.

He had been having nightmares the past week, every night, almost like clockwork. And yet, every morning after he awoke, he never remembered a single detail. It was infuriating.

He sighed and stretched, and then cracked his knuckles. He immediately made his bed, smoothing down all the wrinkles. If there was one thing Jace could not stand, it was disorder.

He went through his morning routine: tidy up the room, wash face, have a quick breakfast, brush teeth, and catch the train.

By the time he was finished with his daily training session, he returned to the kitchen to find Izzy sitting at the kitchen island, yawning.

"Good morning, jackass," she greeted.

"Did you just get up?" Jace asked in response.

Izzy frowned. "Yes, because _normal_ people get up at this hour."

Jace shook his head. He had heard this all before. He walked over to the fridge to grab something else to eat.

"Is Alec up yet?" he asked.

"What do you think?" Isabelle murmured.

"He needs to start waking up earlier so we can train together," Jace grumbled. "Isn't that the point of having a _parabatai?"_

Jace could practically hear Isabelle's eyes roll.

"Maybe if you woke up at a more sane time, Alec would train with you."

Before Jace could respond, he heard the door open and peeked over the refrigerator door to see Hodge wander in.

"Hey, kids," Hodge murmured, rubbing his eyes.

Jace finally decided on eating a leftover brownie that Maryse had made before leaving, and turned to his two companions.

"Morning, Hodge," Izzy yawned again.

"Why aren't you eating anything?" Jace asked Isabelle accusingly. She had a history of "forgetting" to eat, and Jace and Alec both shared the responsibility of "reminding" her.

Isabelle sighed and walked over to the fridge, hesitant to open it.

"How was training?" Hodge asked Jace conversationally.

"Fine," Jace shrugged.

The door the kitchen creaked open again and in walked a very crabby looking Alec Lightwood. His dark hair was tangled, and his pajamas were wrinkled.

"Morning, Alec," Jace chirped.

"Shut up," Alec responded.

"I was just making a pleasant greeting, what's the matter with that?" Jace retorted with a small grin.

"Stop being such a morning person," Alec mumbled.

"How long have you even been up?" Izzy asked, walking back to the kitchen island sipping a green concoction.

"That's not food," Jace snapped.

"It's a smoothie," Isabelle growled.

Jace glanced at Alec, who glared at his younger sister.

"Fine, I'll eat a banana or something. Calm down."

"And to answer your question, I woke up at 6," Jace said to Isabelle.

Hodge grinned slightly. "You're an early riser, like your father."

Jace felt his face darken slightly at the words. While he knew Hodge meant the best, Jace did not want to be reminded of his father. It just reminded him of the yelling, the darkness, the blood...

"I think I have a job for you three," Hodge interrupted Jace's darkening thoughts.

Jace looked up, intrigued. A job usually meant a hunt, which meant danger. The thought thrilled him.

"There was another body found near that night club for all ages. Downworlders tend to like to hang out there. What's it called? I think it starts with a P or something."

"Pandemonium," Jace recalled immediately. He had gone to that nightclub many times to mingle himself. The girls there seemed to attract to him like magnets.

"That's it," Hodge remembered. "That makes the death count at 5 people within two weeks. The club has kept it hushed up so the mundanes don't panic, but they are starting to worry. I suspect demon involvement."

"Sounds easy," Jace grinned.

Isabelle rolled her eyes again.

"Jace, that's not the right attitude to have while entering a dangerous situation," Hodge warned.

"I'll be fine," Jace defended.

"So are you kids are willing to investigate? You'd probably have to be bait, Isabelle," Hodge warned.

Isabelle grinned. "I don't mind."

"I will go if Jace does," Alec added.

"I'm going," Jace said firmly.

"Alright," Hodge smiled. "Be sure to be at Pandemonium around 8."

* * *

"Hey, Wayland," Isabelle shouted at Jace over the loud music.

"What?" He yelled back.

"I bet you can't drink more shots of vodka than I can in a minute," she challenged.

"Oh, you are on!" Jace exclaimed.

"Please don't," Alec reprimanded. "We have a job to do."

But Jace had already jumped over the counter to the bar. Thanks to his glamour, the mundane bartender didn't notice.

Jace grabbed a bottle of vodka and at least a dozen shot glasses. He jumped back over the bar, and returned to his friends.

"Let's do this," Izzy rubbed her hands to together. "Alec, you time."

" _No,"_ Alec again said.

"Come on, loosen up," Izzy argued. Suddenly, she clutched her pendant. A demon was nearby.

"Hey, look at that guy," Jace pointed.

A young man wearing a red jacket strolled in. His hair had electric blue spikes and his eyes were an unnaturally bright green. In his hands he held a suspiciously sharp blade. Jace willed himself to concentrate on the man's appearance, hoping to see past the glamour if there was one.

It took a little work, but the glamour peeled away, and Jace saw the demon underneath.

"It's him," he said to his companions, pointing. "Izzy, you know what to do."

Izzy glared at the demon, and glanced back at Jace and Alec one last time. She nodded to the two, and turned back to the demon. This time she turned on her charm. She grinned seductively and began to swing her hips as she walked, heading toward the demon and successfully getting his attention.

Jace had to hand it to her - Izzy was good at what she did. The demon hardly needed to look at her twice. He followed her like a lost puppy.

"Come on." He nudged Alec.

Alec nodded, looking slightly nervous like he always was during a hunt. The pair quickened their step. Following the demon was always the hardest part, because they had to make sure they didn't bump into unaware mundanes.

Once they reached the door that Isabelle had led the demon into, they stopped, and drew on a rune for listening.

"No rushing in too early this time, Jace," Alec muttered.

"Why would I do that?" He asked defensively. He reached into his jacket and pulled out his seraph blade.

" _Jophiel,"_ he whispered.

A struggle was heard from the other side of the door, and Jace heard Isabelle laugh. He looked to his _parabatai,_ who nodded. Jace nodded back. They burst through the door.

The site that greeted them made Jace smile. Isabelle stood in the middle of the room, her back to them. Her whip wrapped around the demon tightly. There was definitely no chance of escape.

She turned and smiled dangerously at the pair. "He's all yours, boys."

Jace couldn't help but laugh. The joy and excitement that came from capturing a demon was too much to keep inside.

Alec and Jace grabbed the demons shoulders, and threw him against the concrete pillars.

"So, are there any more with you?" Jace asked the demon.

"Any other what?" The demon asked, playing dumb.

Jace grinned and held up his hands, letting the dark sleeves of his gear slip down and show the runes that decorated his arms and hands. "Come now. You know what I am."

" _Shadowhunter,"_ the demon growled.

Jace grinned even more and put his hands in his pockets. Isabelle laughed. "Got you."

The demon remained silent, and Jace just stared at him. When he said nothing, Jace took his hands out his pockets and began to pace.

"So," he said conversationally, "You still haven't told me if there are any other of your kind with you."

"I don't know what you're talking about," the demon responded.

"He means other demons," Alec snapped. "You do know what a demon is, don't you?"

The demon remained silent, looking murderous.

"Demons," Jace said slowly, pretending to write the word in the air with his finger as if to clarify. "Religiously defined as hell's denizens, the servants of Satan, but understood here, for the purposes of the Clave, to be any malevolent spirit who origin is outside our own home dimension—"

"That's enough, Jace," Isabelle interrupted, rolling her eyes.

"Isabelle's right," Alec agreed. "Nobody here needs a lesson in semantics—or demonology."

Jace tilted his head up and grinned. He looked back to the demon. "Isabelle and Alec think I talk too much. Do _you_ think I talk too much?"

"I could give you information," The demon stated. "I know where Valentine is."

Jace glanced at Alec and gave him a questioning look. This wasn't the first time a demon had said this to them. They all knew who Valentine Morgenstern was, of course. A crazy, elitist bastard who tried to overthrow the Clave and commit genocide upon all Downworlders, during what was now addressed as simply "The Uprising." He had been dead for more than 15 years. If Jace recalled correctly from Hodge's history lessons, he set his home on fire and burned to death along with his family...

"Valentine's in the ground," he finally said. "The things just toying with us."

Isabelle flipped her hair. "Kill it, Jace," she demanded. "It's not going to tell us anything."

Jace raised the seraph blade in his hand, excitement filling his veins. It always thrilled him to kill a demon.

"Valentine is back!" The demon gasped. "All the Infernal Worlds know it—I know it—I can tell you where he is—"

Jace grew annoyed. "By the Angel, every time we capture one of you bastards, you claim you know where Valentine is. Well, we know where he is too. He's in hell. And you—" He paused to twirl his seraph blade. "You can _join him there."_

 _"_ Stop!" A female voice cried. "You can't do this."

Jace jumped and turned, so startled that he dropped his seraph blade. Alec and Isabelle turned toward the voice as well, their faces painted in shock and their eyes wide.

Standing near the door was a girl. Jace remembered seeing her earlier while he scanned the dance floor. She had hair the color of fire and was short in stature, and a porcelain face that was dusted in freckles like the stars in the night sky.

She did not show any sign of fear.

"What's this?" Alec demanded, looking to Jace and his sister, clearly hoping for a possible explanation.

"It's a girl," Jace responded, trying to hide how rattled he was. There was something about this girl that unhinged him. Something inside him was screaming to him that she was important, but he didn't know how. "Surely you've seen girls before, Alec. Your sister Isabelle is one."

 _She's brave, for a mundane,_ Jace thought to himself.

"A mundie girl," he muttered. "And she can see us."

But why did he have this nagging feeling that the word "mundane" didn't accurately define her?

There was something different about her, something not remotely normal. Something intriguing.

"Of course I can see you. I'm not blind you know," the girl snapped.

Jace couldn't help but smile to himself. She continued to prove her bravery.

"Oh, but you are." He picked up his knife as a test to see if it would frighten her. She didn't flinch. "You just don't know it." He stood up, and realized that he towered over her. Her head probably only reached his shoulder. "You'd better get out of here, if you know what's good for you."

"I'm not going anywhere," the girl snapped. Jace had decided to start calling her _Little Girl_ in his head. "If I do, you'll kill him."

 _She's smart too,_ he thought with a small smile.

"That's true," he admitted to Little Girl, twirling his seraph blade in his hands. "What do you care if I kill him or not?"

"Be-because—," Little Girl sputtered, searching for the right words. "You can't just go around killing people."

"You're right," Jace agreed. "You can't go around killing _people_." He pointed at the demon. "That's not a person, Little Girl. It may look like a person and talk like a person and maybe even bleed like a person. But it's a monster."

" _Jace,"_ Isabelle hissed _._ "That's enough."

"You're crazy," Little Girl exhaled, backing away from Jace. "I've called the police, you know. They'll be here any second."

"She's lying," Alec said, who had always been a good judge of character. But Jace could see in his face that he had doubts. "Jace, do you—"

But suddenly Alec was interrupted with an outburst from the demon, who had torn himself free from the restraints while Jace had been bickering with Little Girl. He flung himself as Jace, and they fell to the ground. They rolled around, one desperately trying to beat the other. The demon's claws were outstretched, and he made a few swipes at Jace's face. Jace heard a few footsteps, and then a dull thud that could've only been the result of Little Girl trying to escape. But Jace didn't check on her, because now his focus was back on the demon. Isabelle screamed as the demon had knocked Jace on his chest, making him vulnerable.

Isabelle and Alec rushed toward the pair, Isabelle looking murderous with her whip in hand. The demon slashed at Jace, who immediately held his arm up to protect his face.

" _Jonathan, when in battle, you must always protect the face."_ That had been the first lesson Jace's father had taught him.

The claws racked Jace's arm, and he hissed in pain. The demon lunged at him again, but Isabelle's whip came down against the demon's back. The demon let out a screech and fell on its side.

Not intending to waste any more time, Jace rolled over and hopped back up. He grabbed his seraph blade and sank it into the demon's chest. Ichor immediately spilled, as Jace was used to when killing demons. Jace grimaced at the sight, and stood up. He glanced back down at the demon, and pulled his seraph blade out of the creature's chest.

The demon looked Jace dead in the eye, and said his last words: " _So be it. The Forsaken will take you all."_

Jace glared at the demon in response and felt great joy from the site of the demon dying and returning to its home dimension.

Alec reached out for Jace and examined his wound. He drew on a quick _iratze_ and patted Jace's shoulder _._

 _"_ Stupid little mundie," Jace heard Isabelle say. "You could have gotten Jace killed."

Jace turned and saw in horror that Isabelle had her whip wrapped around Little Girl's wrist. The poor girl looked horrified.

"He's crazy," she breathed, and then tried to pull her wrist back.

 _Rookie mistake,_ Jace thought to himself.

Her eyes widened as the pain increased in her wrist. "You're all crazy. What do you think you are, vigilante killers? The police—"

 _What is it with mundies and their police?_ Jace thought to himself.

"The police aren't usually interested unless you can produce a body," He stated, stepping over the cables on the floor and away from Alec.

Jace saw Little Girl look over to the spot where the demon had died, and saw her eyes widen slightly. It was clear that the fact that there was no blood or any evidence that the demon had been there at all was beginning to sink in.

"They return to their home dimensions when they die," Jace shrugged. "In case you were wondering."

"Jace," Alec grabbed his arm. "Be careful.

Jace glanced it is _parabatai_ and provided a facial expression that he hoped said _What have we got to lose?_

 _"_ She can see us, Alec," he explained. "She already knows too much."

 _"_ So what do you want me to do with her?" Isabelle asked, probably hoping that Jace would order Little Girl's immediate demise.

"Let her go," he said instead. The thought of Little Girl being hurt because of him was surprisingly too much to bear.

Isabelle glowered at him, but did as he ordered. She released her whip, and Little Girl immediately rubbed her red wrist. Jace immediately planned on scolding Isabelle for hurting Little Girl later.

"Maybe we should bring her back with us," Alec suggested. "I beg Hodge would like to talk to her."

Jace approved of this suggestion, and the idea of getting to talk to Little Girl and maybe even _learning her name_ excited him even more.

 _"_ No way are we bringing her to the Institute," Isabelle said, interrupting his train of thought. "She's a _mundie."_

 _"_ Or is she?" Jace asked out loud, finally vocalizing the question that had been haunting him this entire time. He turned to Little Girl. "Have you had dealings with demons, Little Girl? Walked with warlocks, talked with the Night Children? Have you—"

 _"_ My name is not 'little girl,'" Little Girl interrupted. "And I have no idea what you're talking about." She seemed to hesitate, as if she was having trouble with those words herself. Jace felt his eyebrows raise. There's definitely something different about this girl, something he has never encountered before. "I don't believe in—in demons, or whatever you—"

 _"_ Clary? _"_ A boy's voice called out. Little Girl spun around.

A dorky looking teenage boy with glasses and messy brown hair stood at the door with one of the mundane "bouncers" beside him. Jace had to force himself not to snort.

"Are you okay? Why are you in here by yourself? What happened to the guys—you know, the ones with the knives?"

Little Girl glanced over her shoulder.

 _My name is not little girl,_ she had said. The boy had called her Clary. _Like clary sage._

He saw Clary make eye contact with him, and he grinned and shrugged. He of course knew that this would happen; the boy was probably the most mundane of the mundanes. He could only imagine the confusion Clary must feel. He felt slightly guilty.

 _Since when have you ever felt guilty? Didn't father teach you to live without regrets?_ A voice taunted in Jace's head, but he quickly silenced it.

Clary turned back to the boy. "I thought they went in here. But I guess they didn't. I'm sorry. It was a mistake."

Jace heard Isabelle giggle.

* * *

"There's no way that Clary girl was a mundane," Jace said for the millionth time, and he could feel his companions growing annoyed. He couldn't help it. He needed to talk about this girl, _Clary,_ to somebody. It felt like a necessity as important as breathing.

"She probably had fey blood or something. Didn't they used to have servants in Institutes where that was the case?" Isabelle asked.

"What was the case?" Alec asked boredly.

"Where a mundane had the sight because they were a descendant of the fey. Pay attention."

"It just doesn't make sense otherwise," Jace spoke over them. "And she was so tough, too. She just walked up to us and started yelling at us."

"Yeah, we know, we were there," Alec snapped. "It was rather annoying, really."

Jace glanced over and saw Isabelle giving him a quizzical look, trying to read past his words.

"And she was so tiny! I have never seen a girl so small speak so loudly."

At this point, they had reached the Institute's doors and were walking in.

They knew to meet Hodge in his office, and Jace continued to dissect their evening and the mysterious Clary, not caring about how monotonous it was to them.

"Well?" Hodge asked, rising from his desk with Hugo on his shoulder.

"We got him but something weird happened Hodge, it was remarkable." And Jace proceeded to tell the tale of Clary and her part in their hunt.

"That's very strange," Hodge said, frowning once Jace finished. "Not completely uncalled for, I suppose, but certainly rare."

"We need to bring her here, Hodge," Jace demanded. "She knows too much already if she truly is just a mundane. And if she's not, I'm sure we'd get the story out of her eventually." _I also really just want to see her again and good-heartedly argue with her again._

Hodge's eyebrows raised at Jace's enthusiasm. "I don't know, Jace. If she's dangerous, it might be best to leave her alone."

"I wouldn't say she's _dangerous,_ but I do agree that we should just leave her alone," Alec argued.

"Hodge, listen to the history lessons you love so much," Jace urged. "The last time a mundane went unchecked and knew about our world, it didn't go well."

Hodge frowned. "I suppose that's a good point, but it's still an immense risk."

"Maybe we should find her," Isabelle said, surprising everyone. She shrugged. "Might as well."

"I want to be the one to search for her," Jace volunteering, the thought of seeing the mysterious Clary again making his stomach churn in excitement.

 _What is your problem, Wayland?_ He thought to himself. _Why do you even care?_

 _"_ Alright, fine. You have made your case, Jace. You will search for her and retrieve her in the morning," Hodge stated, stroking Hugo's feathers.

And as Jace went to bed that night, all he could think of was Clary. Her bravery, her hair, how her beauty struck him like a lightning bolt. And then a new horror settled in.

 _Is this what it's like to have a crush?_ He thought, horrified. It certainly sounded like one. _How can I possibly have a crush after one conversation_? He knew that father would have punished him, and would have called him weak.

 _To love is to destroy. To love is to destroy._

 _But does it though?_

He had never felt more alive than ever, and he wasn't even in love. Just infatuated. There was no way he was in love after one conversation. He'll probably be over it in a week.

* * *

The next day, he went out on his journey to find the red-headed girl. And really, how hard could it be to find someone in New York?

Very, as it turned out. She clearly wished to keep her life private, or at least someone did.

Finally, after a lot of strategic searching, he finally found a post she was tagged in who Jace deduced as the boy who had been at Pandemonium with her.

 ** _Simon Lewis:_ _Going to_ Eric _'s poetry reading with_ Clary Fray! _Not sure whether to be nervous or excited. Never mind, yes I do. I most definitely should fear for my life._**

Finding the coffee shop had been a whole other matter. It had taken a painstaking amount of hours and a lot of unexpected tourism, but he finally found the coffee shop and Clary.

He glanced into the window, and saw her sitting with the boy whose name was Simon. It only took one look at her, but he _knew._

 _This is not going to be over in a week._

* * *

 **Fin.**

 **This is a one-shot, and I don't really plan on adding to this story or writing a multi-chapter fic anytime soon. Here's why:**

 **I probably am starting the busiest year of my LIFE next month. I'm taking APUSH, I'm probably going to be double entered in speech, and I am at least auditioning to be in the fall show and spring musical. Not to mention the fact that I am taking a trip to China (!) with my chorus next year, so yeah. Busy busy busy.**

 **I'll certainly write one-shots because I like writing those a lot. However, that's all I'm up for right now. Sometimes you need to make sacrifices to make everything work, and I'm sacrificing fanfiction. Sorry.**

 **But who knows, maybe I'll just throw my hands up and say fuck it and write one anyway. We'll just see. (:**

 **Anyway, enough about me.**

 **I hope you all are having a fantabulous day, and I hope you enjoyed this. Reviews are rad, so feel free to write one.**

 **Till next time,**

 **-hufflepuffamity**


End file.
